BOOK REVIEW: The Sound of Serendipity by Cynthia A. Rodriguez

BLURB

So many things can happen to a person on a Central Park bench.

For Emerson Kingsley, falling in love happened, despite her broken monster of a heart.

Emerson knows more about listening than she does about love, whether it’s listening to artists as a music producer or listening to stories as she people watches.

Months of watching Maddox Bailey from a park bench are to blame for her infatuation. In her mind, the moment they meet will be spectacular if she ever finds the nerve to speak to him.

But when the two share an awkward cab ride, she realizes that maybe fantasies are meant to stay that way.

The only problem is, now that they’ve met, he keeps popping up in her life. Each time he does, Emerson finds the real-life Maddox to be better than anything she could’ve dreamed—sexy, passionate, and sweeter than his chocolate brown eyes.

A woman in love with possibilities meets a man determined to make them happen.

MY REVIEW

4.5/5 stars

You know that feeling of sipping hot chocolate on a rainy day? Yup. That’s the aura this book established. Miss Cynthia’s calming and soothing voice in this genre is a keeper. The Sound of Serendipity smoothly differentiates the dreamy kind of love the real complications of true love. 

“Because I think you’re too beautiful to pretend to be invisible.”

Em was an observer. She was the silent eye on parks, coffee shops, and bookstores; the storymaker of every passerby’s daily life. But beneath her serious, uptight exterior, she was a screaming powerhouse of talent, passion, and sensuality. I found her character real and relatable. She’s a cut-out from every girl’s feelings which made it easy for me to get into her shoes and feel with her. 

My heart is not beating to keep me alive. With every jolt outwards, it’s looking for its counterpart; its true master.

Maddox was a man driven by passion. He was a handsome, hardworking dream, charming women one day at a time. He was what Emerson’s fantasies were made of, the prince to her damsel-in-distress. Em viewed him with a fanciful eye that made me feel all the tingles and the smoothness of his character. But what was amazing was how Maddox’ character progressed. Once he was the perfect, most-awaited prince in the story and then he slowly became just a mere man with flaws. I think his character progress was relevant as a way to make Em realize that even the dreamiest prince has flaws, too. Eitherway, Maddox still maintained the swoon in the whole book. 

We don’t fantasize about the bad things. But as he sits here silently beside me, I realize that these moments—the real ones—are the ones worth fantasizing about.

I loved the soothing tone of this book. It was easy-going but calming. It has the right amount of quirks and drama, not too heavy, not too light. Just the right amount of depth to stir thought and emotion. The plot carried a familiar message about love being imperfect, and that sometimes it’s more than just the fantasy. The way Miss Cynthia developed this story and her characters was addicting.